[cobirds] Strange phoebe, Las Animas County

Hi folks,

One of the CFO convention field trips discovered a very odd-looking phoebe yesterday in the town of Cokedale, about 6 miles west of Trinidad.  I was able to refind the bird this morning.  It appears to be either a HYBRID BLACK x SAY'S PHOEBE or a MELANISTIC SAY'S PHOEBE.  It looks pretty much just like a Say's Phoebe, except with all its feathers about three shades darker than normal.  On the head and back it's almost as black as a typical Black Phoebe.  The belly area is kind of a rufousy brown that blends smoothly into the dark color of the rest of the bird.  The wing panels and rump seem like the palest parts of the plumage.  The bird did not vocalize for me this morning, but it appeared to share the same field and territory as a normal-looking and normal-sounding Say's Phoebe which might be its mate.

Directions to the site: head west on Highway 12 from Trinidad and turn right in about 6 miles at the sign for Cokedale.  Drive about 50 yards and park in the big pullout before the bridge on the left.  Walk across the bridge (defended by a territorial male Eastern Phoebe, pure in plumage and voice) to the school bus shelter about 100 yards in on the right.  The bird was seen all throughout the field to the north, from the river to the house with the barking dogs, and from the road north a couple hundred yards into the field.  Both the dark phoebe and the normal-looking Say's were seen hanging out near the silver barn with the open door just north of the house -- perhaps a prospective nest site, though I did not observe any breeding behavior.  Yesterday the dark phoebe was seen hanging out around the school bus shelter, but no nest is visible there at this time.

Now that the CFO convention is over (and what a great convention it was!), I imagine birder visits to Cokedale will be rare, but it's worth driving a couple of hours to see this bird and try to get better documentation.  I understand there are some photos from Saturday but I haven't seen them yet.  If any banders are willing to go down and try to capture the bird, we could solve the mystery of whether it's a hybrid or a melanistic Say's.  Some decent sound recordings of this individual would also help answer that question.  Getting there before the sun rises could improve the chances of an audio recording.  Even if you only have poor audio recording capability (on your smartphone, or on the video setting of your camera), it would be fantastic to get recordings if possible.

Best of luck to anyone chasing this remarkable bird -- whatever it is, it's the best bird of the CFO convention from my perspective!

A singing first-year male ORCHARD ORIOLE was the other highlight in Cokedale this morning.

Nathan Pieplow
Boulder

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